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{
    "id": 909943,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/909943/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 710,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwea, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Josphat Kabinga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13441,
        "legal_name": "Josphat Kabinga Wachira",
        "slug": "josphat-kabinga-wachira-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Report. As I support, I want to declare, from the outset, that I am still a student of the budget and the budget-making process. I have had time to go through this Budget. I do not want to dwell on the fact that what we see and what we have heard about the supplementary is as a result of a mismatch between expenditure and revenue. I do not want to dwell on that. However, I have made an observation that there is a deduction by 4.2 per cent in this year’s 2019/2020 Budget from the previous year. I am not sure what has changed. I notice that this is as a result of a reduced allocation to the Consolidated Fund and knowing that we still have a lot of debts that we are servicing. I am not very sure what the reduction is about. My concern is on two areas. One, I notice from the Report that there is a reduction on the allocation for subsidiary fertiliser. It is reducing from Kshs4.3 billion to Kshs2 billion. I am left wondering. Food security is a key component under the Big Four Agenda. When we reduce money for subsidiary fertiliser, we are simply saying that our farmers will either not produce enough or they will do it at a higher cost. I represent rice farmers who grow rice in my constituency. I guess rice farmers in the country have not been benefiting from subsidiary fertilisers which have been provided in an untimely manner. We have had serious discussion with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Co-operatives and have agreed on how farmers would benefit this coming year. I am worried, now that there is a reduction, whether we will be on course to get the subsidised fertiliser in July which is when our farmers will start planting. The other thing I am concerned about is the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR). Again, I notice from the Report that there is zero allocation to this particular item. I can only hope that the Ministry has alternative ways of funding the SFR purchases. We have the SFR Trust Fund notified under Legal Notice No.15 of 2015. In the legal notice are mentioned items such as rice and canned beef, but have not benefitted from the SFR Trust Fund. We had engaged the Fund this year to extend its allocation to livestock keepers and rice farmers. Our intention was to benefit rice farmers the way maize farmers do. Since 2015, we have been implementing this particular item as if it were a maize strategic trust fund. I, therefore, have some concerns over that matter. I notice that in this Budget we have good things. We have an allocation of Kshs1billion to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to enable it engage our young men and women in an internship programme that will not only increase productivity, but will also give them hope in terms of getting employment. I notice that my time is over and I do not want to continue. I want to reiterate the fact that I am very disturbed about subsidised fertiliser. I am also very disturbed about the SFR. These are two items of concern."
}